When Buffalo surprisingly signed Taylor Hall to a one-year, $8M contract in October, speculation already started as to whether or not the winger would make it through the year with the Sabres. If the team struggled in the Atlantic Division (the signing came before the move which now has them in the East Division), he’d become a plausible rental trade deadline candidate. However, it appears neither side has any interest in things getting to that point as Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reported in TSN’s latest Insider Trading segment (video link) that there is mutual interest in a contract extension.
Midway through last season, he was acquired by Arizona in the hopes of pushing the Coyotes to a lengthy postseason run. Hall, meanwhile, was hoping that the change of scenery would see him improve his offensive numbers and really bolster his value heading to the open market. Neither really happened. Arizona did make the postseason and get through the qualifying round but that was predominantly on the back of Darcy Kuemper. Meanwhile, Hall’s point per game rate dipped in the desert and went slightly lower in the playoffs though he did manage two goals and four assists in nine games.
As a result, his market was much softer than expected. Two years ago, it looked as if he could be like Artemi Panarin and land a multi-year deal worth more than $10M per year but he couldn’t come close to that. As a result, he pivoted towards the one-year pact that landed him with Buffalo in the hopes that the opportunity to play alongside Jack Eichel would allow him to improve his offensive output and give him a better shot at a stronger market this summer. Unfortunately for both Hall and the Sabres, that hasn’t happened as the 29-year-old has just one goal through 12 games heading into play on Thursday though he ranks second to Eichel in assists with eight.
That type of offensive performance doesn’t lend itself towards matching let alone beating his $8M price tag which makes it interesting that he’d be open to an extension at this time given that his marketability isn’t as strong as he was hoping it’d be let alone the fact that the Sabres have struggled considerably this season. Him showing a willingness to sign would seemingly work in Buffalo’s favor at this point although they’d still likely need to come close to his current AAV to justify Hall foregoing another shot at the open market.
While there is mutual interest in getting something done, it will take a while before they’ll be allowed to do so. Since Hall signed a one-year contract, there is a restriction on how quickly he can sign an extension. Normally, that deadline is January 1st which is nearly three months into a typical regular season but that’s with free agency coming in the summer. Since the UFA market came in mid-October, this year’s allowable extension date is March 12th, just two months into the year. That comes one month before the trade deadline so if they can’t get a deal in place around that time, Buffalo will only have a few weeks to decide whether to keep Hall or trade him. It’s a narrow window to work with but with a shortened schedule, decisions are being made a bit quicker this season and this case will be no exception.
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